Introductions and Repercussions
by abba2zabba15
Summary: Lily/James. "'James' Lily said quietly.'Yeah' He whispered against her hair.'I want you to meet my parents.' She felt James freeze against her, and thought that maybe she had made a mistake in asking him."
1. Chapter 1

"'James?' Lily said quietly.

'Yeah?' He whispered against her hair.

'I want you to meet my parents.' She felt James freeze against her, and thought that maybe she had made a mistake in asking him."

**A/N: This is sort of a sequel to my other story, ****A Silver Doe and a Stag Marauder****, but it can be read separately. You by no means need to have read that story to get this one, but in case you **_**have**_** read that one, and are interested in what might have happened afterwards, this is one possibility. In the second chapter, there is a brief mention to the other story, so I'm sorry if you are confused after reading it. To everyone that asked for a follow up to that story, here it is. Enjoy!**

Introductions and Repercussions

Lily Evans was sitting on her couch in the Head's Common Room, working on an essay for Professor McGonagall. Being Head Girl sure had its perks. Yes, it didn't exactly win her any points with the younger students, but she didn't need status to win her points. She didn't really care about popularity.

Lily rubbed the back of her neck absent-mindedly, trying to work out the kink that was quickly forming. Lily was no stranger to these little kinks. They were quite common amongst people who spent a great deal of time bent over a lot of paperwork. Lily Evans was just such a person.

The door to the Common Room flew open, and Lily's best friend, Hestia Jones, came strolling into the room. Lily didn't even look up from her essay. "Is it really necessary to slam the door every time you open it, Hest?" Lily asked, flipping a few pages in her Transfiguration book and chewing on the end of her quill.

Hestia flopped down on the couch next to her. "What can I say? I like to make an entrance." Lily rolled her eyes, but of course, Hestia couldn't see it.

"Lily? Lily? Lily? Lily? Lily?" Hestia nagged from her spot to Lily's right.

Lily tried to ignore it, really she did. She knew this game Hestia was playing. It was a battle of patience the two of them often played. Lily almost always lost.

"What is it, Hestia?" She sighed.

"It's a gorgeous day outside, and you're in here doing your work."

"Hestia, it's freezing."

"Lily Evans, it's almost Easter break, and you're inside doing your Transfiguration homework."

"Exactly, so I don't have to do it over Easter break." Lily said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And to her, it was.

"Look, the sun is shining, the grass is green, and yes it's a little crisp, but that's nothing we can't fix with a sweater… or two. Come on Lily, we're all leaving tomorrow, and I want one last day with my best friend."

"I don't know…"

"Your boyfriend is down by the lake, sitting next to my boyfriend, being devilishly handsome and otherwise irresistible. You better come down and keep an eye on him, before he runs off with some Ravenclaw."

"Hestia, I think you're getting our boyfriends confused. _You're_ the one dating Sirius. I completely trust James."

Hestia groaned. "Oh just come down and snog him for a little while."

Lily glanced up at her friend, before looking back down at her essay, sighing, and closing her book. "I'm coming down, but only because I won't get any work done with you here bugging me."

"Oh, suuurreee." Hestia said, drawing out the word comically. "It has nothing to do with James Potter and his snog-able self."

Lily looked at her friend strangely. "You really need to start thinking out your sentences before you say them."

"What's the fun in that?" Hestia asked as Lily grabbed her coat and they headed down to the Entrance Hall.

"Well, for one, you don't sound like an idiot half of the time."

"Lily Evans! How dare you say that I sound like an idiot _half_ of the time? I think I sound like an idiot _at least _three quarters of the time."

Lily laughed and hooked her arm through Hestia's. "This is why I love you Hest."

"It's not for my brilliance and stunning good looks?" Lily just kept laughing. "No, I'm just kidding. I know we're only friends because I can make you laugh." And Lily was laughing too hard to correct her.

They exited the school, and immediately Lily stopped laughing, and huddled closer to Hestia. It was cold out. She knew it would be, but that still didn't take away any of the shock of stepping out into the biting wind. Still, once she got past the initial shock, Lily had to admit that it _was_ a beautiful day. The flowers were just starting to bloom, and everything smelled like flowers, rain, and spring. Lily never understood how a season could have a smell, but still, they all did. And she loved the smell of spring.

Lily and Hestia made their way towards the group of people sitting below the large tree by the lake; _their_ tree. Lily could make out James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Mary McDonald, and Marlene McKinnon.

As they approached the tree, Lily heard Sirius call out, "Oh look, it's the two most beautiful girls in the school!" James' head popped up, and he spun around, catching sight of Lily. A huge grin broke out across his face.

He stood up and jogged over to his girlfriend. Hestia slid her arm out of Lily's and went over and sat down next to her boyfriend, who greeted her with a kiss.

James stopped in front of Lily, bent down, and kissed her softly. "Hey." He said as he pulled away.

She stood up a little straighter and brought her lips to meet his in return. "Hey back." They kissed for another few seconds, before James pulled away, slid his hand into hers, and led her over towards the tree. "You know you don't have to do that every time you see me."

"I don't have to do what?"

"You don't have to come over and meet me; I can just come to you."

James shook his head, sitting down against the tree and pulling Lily down next to him. "I really don't mind. Plus, why wait another 5 seconds for you to get to me here, when I can just run and meet you? That's 5 seconds sooner that I get to kiss you."

"Awww," Hestia cooed, "you two are disgusting."

"Go snog your boyfriend, Hestia." Lily said, leaning her head against James' shoulder.

"She was trying to," Sirius said, "but unfortunately, I saw something vulgar and felt sick."

Remus was lying on his back on the ground with his eyes closed, but upon hearing this, he cracked one eye open to look at his shaggy-haired friend, before closing his eye again. "Prongs, feel free to be as nauseating as you want. Anything to get Sirius to stop sucking face with Hestia is a blessing."

Everyone but Sirius laughed. "What's wrong with the way I kiss, Moony?"

"Oh nothing Padfoot. I'm just surprised Hestia hasn't drowned yet."

Everyone burst out laughing again, and Sirius pouted. "Oh don't pout sweetie." Hestia said, leaning over and kissing him lightly on the lips. Sirius perked up, before Hestia continued, grinning evilly, "I don't mind getting slobbered all over."

"OY!" Sirius yelled, as the group continued to poke fun at him. He crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. "I feel unappreciated here."

This continued for a few more minutes. One member of the group would make a joke about Sirius and Hestia's relationship, or maybe just Sirius, and then everyone except the man mentioned would laugh. Hestia knew how to take the jokes, but Sirius had always been a little sensitive. That's not to say that he didn't appreciate his friends' humor, because he did. He had to admit that some of the jokes really were quite clever. He was just happier when they were all poking fun at James. That didn't happen nearly often enough, in Sirius' opinion.

Finally, when they could make no more dog/slobbering/hair/girly jokes about Sirius, the group fell into quiet bliss. Remus, Peter, Mary, and Marlene were all lounging on the grass, talking about what they were going to do over the Easter holiday, Sirius and Hestia were horizontal, and kissing quite contentedly, while James and Lily sat, arms around each other, looking out at the lake.

James kissed the top of her head.

"James?" Lily said quietly.

"Yeah?" He whispered against her hair.

"I want you to meet my parents." She felt James freeze against her, and thought that maybe she had made a mistake in asking him.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. We're getting serious, right? And I thought, you know, since there's a break coming up, it would be the perfect time… but I get it if you don't want to." She added quickly, giving him a way out if he wanted it.

"No, I want to. We are serious…"

"No, I'm Sirius." Sirius called from over by Hestia. Remus thumped him on the back of the head with a rolled up Quidditch magazine, which sparked a little argument over by them, giving James and Lily some more privacy.

"We're serious, so yeah, I want to meet your parents. But…" James stopped for a second, thinking about what he was about to say, "I think you should meet mine first."

"What? Why?"

"Well… my parents work a lot, so they're always away. And I don't know when they're going to be around again. So I think, since I know they're both going to be here for the first few days of break, you should meet mine first. And then, afterwards, if you're still interested in dating me, I can meet your parents."

"Why wouldn't I want to date you after meeting your parents?"

"Yeah Prongs, your parents are great." Sirius called. This time Hestia smacked him. "What the bloody hell is it with you people and hitting me?"

"Stay out of this." Hestia hissed at him.

"You know, you all could at least _pretend_ you're not listening to us." James said, glaring at the six of them, who glanced off into different directions innocently.

James turned back to Lily and tried to answer her question. "My parents are very… magical. And I know, you've been in this world for 7 years, but they don't really understand anything _Muggle_. And they're pure-blood. I mean, they don't have any anti-Muggle or Muggleborn feelings, but their parents, my grandparents, do. And I'm just saying… they can be a little bit… intense. I'm sure they'll love you. But still, meeting the family for the first time… it's kind of like make or break in a relationship."

Lily sat thinking for a few moments. "Alright, I'll meet your parents first."

"Great." James said, grinning. "So I'll owl you tomorrow once you get back to your house, and then we'll see about maybe having you over for dinner the next night."

"You don't even want to give your mum more of a warning?"

"Oh trust me, it's better if she _doesn't_ have any warning. Otherwise you'll be stuck there eating a twelve course meal for four hours. You want her unprepared. She's lucky I'm even giving her a day to prepare. She might give me hell about it, but I think it's better than the alternative."

Lily chuckled. "Unprepared it is. I'm actually really nervous. Should I be?"

"Not at all. I'll give you the total run over tomorrow on the train. You'll be completely prepared. I know how much you hate surprises."

"I wouldn't say that I _hate_ surprises…"

"No, but surprises hate you." Hestia cut in.

"…Alright I'll bite. What do you mean, Hestia?"

"Lily, if anyone tries to surprise you, jump out at you, trick you, or anything similar, you end up pulling your wand and hexing them."

"That's… that's not completely…"

"It's kind of true, Lily." Mary said, gravely. "I know for a fact Hestia's been hexed 6 good times, Marlene's gotten it 4 times, I've gotten it twice, and James has been hexed at _least_ 3 times."

The whole group nodded along, while Lily looked back and forth between them. "Alright, so surprises aren't my favourite, but still…"

Remus cut in quickly, "Let's just leave it at the fact that James is being very sweet in preparing you with what his parents are like. Now kiss him and let's move on to a less dangerous subject."

Lily rolled her eyes, but kissed James softly. "You're being very sweet. Thank you."

James smiled sweetly. "So is there anything I should know about your parents? I'm sure they know all about me, right?"

Lily cleared her throat awkwardly. "Well… actually, I guess this is a good time to say this… I haven't exactly told my parents much about you…"

James cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

Hestia fidgeted with her robes before standing up and grabbing Sirius' hand. "Well, we're off to snog in a broom cupboard." Sirius' face lit up as he jogged along behind his girlfriend. Remus stood up quickly as well and muttered something about Charms. Marlene, Mary, and Peter hastened after him.

James watched his friends go with a puzzled look on his face. "Lily? What do you mean you haven't told them much about me?"

"Well… when I say that… what I mean is… they don't exactly know that we're together…"

James froze in place. "They don't know that we're dating?" Lily shook her head slowly. "Lily… we've been dating for months…."

"I know that. It's just… I could never find a good time to tell them, you know?"

"No, I don't know. Lily I don't believe this!" He exclaimed, standing up and walking away from her angrily.

"James!" Lily called, chasing after him.

"Just… give me a little time Lily, okay? Let me think for a little while. I'll talk to you tomorrow." He said, turning around to face her and kiss her softly on the lips. He didn't want her to think that they were breaking up over this. But he did need some time to think this over. His girlfriend hadn't told her parents that she was dating someone. These last few months had been the best of his life. What if it didn't mean that much to her?

Lily sighed and watched her boyfriend walk away from her. She ran a hand through her hair and cursed herself for being so stupid. She should have just swallowed her pride and told her parents the day she realized she was in love with him.

James wasn't at dinner. Lily knew he was mad at her, but she didn't think it would go so far as to make him skip a meal. James _never_ missed an opportunity to eat. This was not going to end well, she could already tell.

When she got back up to her dorm room, James was nowhere to be found. Lily sighed in frustration. Really, it was fine that he was cross with her, but he was acting like a petulant child, avoiding her instead of talking this out like adults. Lily sat down on the couch and pulled out her Transfiguration essay, ready to wait up all night for James.

She finished the essay an hour later, and still, James wasn't back. Lily would be worried about him if she wasn't confident that he knew the castle better than anyone. He even knew it better than the ghosts. She wasn't worried about him being ambushed, or stuck in any trick stairs, but to be honest, she was getting really frustrated with him.

Lily stayed up on the couch for another hour reading. By this point, it was nearing midnight, and she was getting tired with nothing left to do. Lily felt her eyes getting heavy with sleep, and fought to stay conscious. But it was futile. Darkness engulfed her within minutes.

Lily woke up the next morning in her bed. With a start, she realized James must have come in sometime last night, seen her asleep, and put her in her own bed. '_Well,'_ she thought, '_at least he's still being nice to me.'_

"LILY!" Lily heard a yelling from out in her Common Room, and she struggled to extract herself from the covers of her bed and see what the screeching was all about.

"What is it?" She groaned.

"Lily Marie! Move your butt! We only have like," Hestia looked down at her watch, "half an hour until the train leaves!"

"Bollocks." Lily muttered as she scurried into her room to change her clothes and grab her suitcase. "I guess it's too late for breakfast?" She called out to Hestia as she pulled a sweater over her head.

"Hell, it's almost too late for _lunch_. Why were you still sleeping? Why didn't James wake you up?"

Lily shrugged as she dragged her trunk behind her. "He must still be mad at me for not telling my parents about us."

Hestia groaned. "I warned you about that, didn't I? Didn't I say, 'Lily Evans, this is going to come back around to bite you in the arse'?"

"You did, Hest."

"And then you said," Hestia continued, as if Lily hadn't said anything, "_you _said, 'It's fine Hestia. I'll just wait a few more weeks, and then I'll owl them and tell them'. And I said, 'You say a few weeks now Lils, but it's going to turn into months, and then won't James be pissed?'."

"I get it, Hestia." Lily growled as the two of them rushed out of the school with the stragglers, down towards Hogsmede Station.

"I'm just trying to be a good friend."

"Well you're doing a shit job." Lily growled. Hestia stopped walking, taken aback. Lily sighed. "I'm sorry Hest, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself."

Hestia smiled softly. "I know, Lily. But it'll all be fine. James can't resist you, and he can't stay mad at you. All you have to do is flash him a smile, and he melts like a chocolate frog confronted with a Hungarian Horntail."

Lily looked at her friend quizzically. "I'm assuming that means he melts quickly?"

"Seriously Lily, for the brightest witch in our year, you really are rather thick."

"I'm a Muggleborn!"

"That's no excuse! Now hurry up, the train leaves in 10 minutes, and at this rate we'll never get a seat." Hestia said as the stepped onto the unmoving engine. Hestia looked left, then right, before deciding to head left, looking in to different compartments, trying to find one with their friends in it.

After a few minutes, Hestia let out a triumphant yell, and pulled open the door to the compartment containing the Marauders, Mary, and Marlene.

"It's about time!" Marlene exclaimed when she saw her two friends. "We were about to send out a search party for the two of you." She teased.

"Yeah," Mary cut in, sliding down the seat to make room for her red-headed friend, "Sirius got it in his head that the two of you were engaging in… how did he put it… oh yes, _lewd activities_."

Lily blushed furiously, but Hestia just threw back her head and laughed before sitting in her boyfriend's lap. "You just _wish_ we were doing something lewd, Sirius."

Sirius shrugged. "I'm not going to lie; the thought's crossed my mind."

"Watch it, Padfoot." James growled from over by the window.

Lily brought her gaze quickly to his, meeting his hazel eyes for a few seconds before he broke contact. Lily couldn't hold back her frown when her boyfriend didn't even flash her a smile. This was worse than she had originally thought.

The train jolted forward, knocking the friends around a little bit. Once it gained speed though, they all fell into a comfortable atmosphere, chatting and laughing and joking.

But Lily could feel the tension between her and James, and it wasn't the good kind of tension, either. It was awkward. They both knew that they had to talk, but neither wanted to broach the topic, least of all in front of their friends.

When the food trolley had come and gone, Lily finally got fed up. "This is ridiculous." She huffed.

Sirius brought his head up, mouth bulging with candy beans. James had a licorice wand dangling out of his mouth, and he cocked his head in confusion.

"James, we need to discuss this. So, step outside with me, for a minute?" She suggested.

He stood up wordlessly and followed her out of the compartment.

Once they were in the semi-private hallway, Lily turned to him. "James, I'm sorry." He didn't answer. "James please talk to me."

"You know, I shouldn't be mad at you for not telling them. I know that. I know that this is irrational, and that it doesn't make any sense, but damn it Lily, love doesn't make sense! And you know I love you. I love you more than anything. I would do anything for you. I would jump in front of a Killing Curse for you, and I thought you, at least, were beginning to feel something similar!"

"I do James, I do. I love you. You know how much I love you."

"That's just it," he sighed, running his fingers through his hair, "I don't think I _do_ know."

"What do you mean?"

"I was so excited Lily, so excited, that first night you agreed to date me, I couldn't _not_ tell my parents. I didn't expect that you would tell yours right away, but Merlin Lily, it's been _months_. People don't keep the people they care about a secret from their family."

"It was hard to tell them, James. You can't just push me into these things. And yeah, I wish I had told them sooner, but I _didn't_. No amount of arguing is going to change that!"

"Why didn't you tell them, Lily? Are you ashamed of me?"

Lily's eyes widened in shock. "NO. Merlin no, James. I could _never_ be ashamed of you. I just didn't know how I was supposed to tell them. I spent my first six years at Hogwarts complaining about you, and telling them how revolting you were, I didn't know how they were going to react if I sent them an owl one day and said, 'Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. You know that boy James Potter, the one that dyed my hair green and made me cry? Yeah, that's the one. He and I are shagging now.'"

"We're not shagging." James muttered.

"Yeah, but that's what they would have thought! I hated you James and I didn't know how they would feel about it."

"Who cares about what they would have thought? My parents were raised to hate Muggleborns, but they got over it pretty damn fast. They can't _wait_ to meet you. I thought the least you could have done, to prove that you _really_ cared about me, was tell your ruddy parents about us! But no, I guess that was too much to ask." And with that, James spun on his heel and strode off down the train, going Merlin knows where.

"James!" Lily called after him. "JAMES!" But he either didn't hear her, or just pretended not to. Lily had a feeling it was the latter.

She groaned and looked around at the hallway. As far as she could see, people's faces, ranging from first year to seventh, were pressed against the glass, obviously watching her altercation with her boyfriend. Most people couldn't seem to remember that they were dating now, and Lily had heard rumours of a bet going on how soon it would be before she and James cursed each other into oblivion. She had reason to believe there were more than three hundred Galleons in the pot at the moment.

Lily sighed deeply before slipping back in to her compartment. As she was closing the door, she heard rustling, and whipped around to see her six friends scuttling back in to their seats, trying to appear as if they hadn't been pressed up against the glass seconds before, hanging on their every word.

Lily sat down and buried her head in her hands in a mixture of frustration and shame. Marlene, who was sitting next to her, reached over and rubbed soothing circles on her back.

Hestia cleared her throat. "Do you want to talk about it, or…?"

"No." Lily mumbled in to her palms. Hestia nodded, though she was aware that her red-headed friend couldn't see her.

"Hey, cheer up Lils." Sirius said, trying to diffuse the tension. "Old Prongsey just needs some time to cool off. He'll be fine in a few hours. He's just a little hurt is all…" Sirius seemed to realize this was the wrong thing to say. Lily groaned in to her hands.

"Merlin, I never wanted to hurt him."

Sirius looked at her anxiously; apparently worried that she was going to burst in to tears at any moment.

"Nice going Padfoot." Remus whispered under his breath, glaring at his best friend. Sirius shrugged apologetically.

The rest of the train ride passed in quiet chatter. Once her friends were no longer worried about triggering Lily's unstable emotions, they continued to talk, albeit at a very low volume. At one point, Sirius stood up and made his way to the door.

"Where are you going?" Hestia asked, lowly.

"I'm out to find Prongs. I have a feeling he won't uh… won't want to come back here." He said, shooting a glance at Lily. She didn't need to be looking up to know he was looking at her.

"Tell him I'm sorry." Lily said quietly as Sirius slipped from the room. He grunted, signaling that he'd heard her. Lily sighed and didn't speak again until the train stopped and they were unloading their belongings.

She hugged her roommates tightly, lingering a little longer on Hestia, before quickly hugging the two remaining Marauders, and setting off towards the Muggle world.

Lily walked through the barrier and onto Platforms 9 and 10 in King's Cross Station. She looked left and right, trying to catch a glimpse of her mother or father.

"Lily!" She heard a call, and Lily turned her head, grinning hugely.

She pushed her trolley quickly towards where her mother, father, and sister were standing. Petunia looked grumpy, and put-out, as usual. "Hey Mum, hey Dad, hey Tuney." Lily hugged her mom tightly, then switched to her dad, and even tentatively hugged Petunia.

"Welcome home, Lils. It's good to see you." Her father whispered in her ear.

"Do you have much homework over the break?" Her mother asked as the small group walked out of the train station and towards the family car.

Lily shook her head. "I did all of it before I got here, so that I could spend as much time as possible with you guys." Lily smiled at her beaming parents, and didn't mention anything about James, or meeting his parents.

And now, Lily had to decide how to broach the awkward subject. She wasn't hiding him from them… not exactly. It's just that she'd spent the previous 6 years complaining non-stop about James Potter, and now… she didn't know how to tell them that she was dating him, that she was falling in love with him… hell, that she was _already_ in love with him. But she knew she would have to tell them soon. James would be sending her an owl later that day to invite her over for dinner.

Lily spent the car ride back to her house talking and laughing with her family. Even Petunia was being pleasant to her, which was certainly a surprise, although Lily thought it had more to do with the fact that they hadn't mentioned magic once since her return.

Lily decided to start a conversation with her sister that she hoped was safe. "So Tuney how's Vernon?"

Petunia sat up a little straighter, and bragged, "Oh, he's absolutely _wonderful._ He's just been promoted at the drill factory; he's now Assistant to the Assistant Manager."

Lily, though the urge was strong, did not laugh. She kept a very straight face, and said, "Wow, that's big news. Tell him congratulations from me."

"Oh, I will."

"So Lily, how's your friend Hestia? Is she still dating that Sirius fellow?"

Lily smiled a little bit. "Oh yes, much to everyone's surprise. Sirius isn't exactly one for long relationships, you know."

Her parents exchanged a glance. "Oh yes dear, we know."

"How has the workload been?" Mr. Evans asked.

Lily shrugged. "It's definitely harder this year. We have to write a lot more essays, and McGonagall's really been cracking down hard, but it's our final year, so it's kind of to be expected."

Her parents nodded, and then began talking about the new carpet Mrs. Evans had put in the family room, and how much better it went with the furniture. Lily tried to be interested, she really did. Sometimes she forgot how boring the Muggle world could be.

They pulled into the Evans driveway, and Lily looked out the window at her little house. It was strange. She was a fully grown wizard. She could do magic outside of school, and yet, she still had to take her NEWT's, and she was still technically living at home. Lily didn't know what to think. By Muggle standards, she was still a kid for another year, but in her other world, she was an adult.

Lily always had trouble figuring out which world she belonged in. She knew how to work an oven, but she also knew how to turn a couch into a ferret. She could defend herself against fully-grown wizards, and could perform complex Charms with her eyes closed, but she still had trouble working the television. Lily was stuck between two worlds, and she didn't know which one she wanted.

Usually she didn't think about these things, but with the upcoming dinner with James' completely wizard family, she was thinking about it more and more. What if she and James stayed together after school was over? What if they ended up moving in together? Would it be a wizard house, or a mix? Would she have to teach him about Muggle things? Was it just easier to pretend she wasn't a Muggleborn? Should she give up pens and pencils for the messier, harder-to-write-with quills?

All this was brought to the front of Lily's mind just by looking at her little blue house. Lily climbed out of the car, went to the back, and pulled out her trunk, dragging it up the driveway to the front door. She would rather levitate it, but she was getting along so nicely with Petunia, and she figured that magic would just mess up what they had going.

Mr. Evans helped carry his daughter's trunk upstairs and to her bedroom. Lily smiled when she opened the door. The first thing she did was flop down on the bed, bigger and just the tiniest bit more comfortable than her four-poster at school. Lily breathed in the scent of her pillow, but frowned almost immediately. It didn't smell like home. It didn't smell like her. It smelled like detergent. True, that wasn't a bad smell, but it wasn't the _right_ smell.

Every time Lily came home from school, she was always surprised that her pillow didn't smell like her, that her room was cold, and unlived in. She half-expected everything to remain frozen while she was gone. Her mother wouldn't get a haircut, her father wouldn't grow a beard, and her bed would stay warm the whole time. Of course, that was a ridiculous idea, Lily knew, but still, it didn't stop her from hoping.

Lily raised herself off of her bed and began to unpack her trunk by hand, sorting the clothes into a 'clean' and 'dirty' pile. She could just wave her wand and unpack the trunk in seconds, but this gave her something to do. Also, Lily had never done any spells at home, because she had always been underage. So now that she had the whole wide world of domestic spells at her fingertips, she didn't know what to do with them. So she did things the Muggle way.

She heard a light tapping at her window, and looked up to see a large, brown barn owl standing on the windowsill, a letter tied around its leg. She recognized it at once as James' owl, Franklin (a ridiculous name for a bird, in Lily's opinion). Lily stood up and raced over to open the window. The bird flew in, and before Lily took the letter, she pulled a bag of owl treats out of her trunk, and quickly went into the bathroom to get the bird some water.

When she came back, and Franklin was busy drinking, she untied the scroll, and unrolled it.

_Lily,_

_I know it's still a little bit early, but I promised you a letter today. I wrote this as soon as I got back to my house._

_First of all, I'm sorry for the way I acted today on the train. I over reacted to this whole situation. You can thank Padfoot for beating some sense in to me; I don't think the bump will go away for another week._

_I don't blame you for anything you did, but I am ashamed of my behavior. Of course it's your decision when to tell your parents about us, and I shouldn't have assumed anything. I do hope you tell them about me soon, though, because I really do want you to meet my family, and I want to meet yours._

_Secondly, my parents are thrilled that we're together. I have to admit, I spent a great deal of time talking about you, especially in my first few years of Hogwarts. Don't be embarrassed, and don't hate me, I was just a kid._

_When I told them you were my girlfriend, I think my mum actually squealed. Can you believe it? I guess it's different if you know her… which you will, tomorrow. And that brings me to the real purpose of my letter._

_They insisted I have you over as soon as possible. They actually suggested tonight, but I said that you would probably want to spend tonight with your family, getting caught up and everything. I don't know if anything's changed in the last few hours, but I assume they still don't know about me._

_Anyways, they made me promise that we have you over tomorrow night for dinner. I'll try to talk my mum out of anything more than 3 courses, but I can't guarantee anything._

_So let me know. We can always do it later in the break, if you want, or if you need to, that's perfectly fine. But please have it be soon. I've been away from you for 3 hours, and already I miss you._

_Write me soon._

_All my love,_

_James_

Lily smiled at the letter. He was kind of adorable sometimes. And yes, she would be over at his house tomorrow. Lily quickly scribbled down her answer on a spare bit of parchment, and then continued to unpack, thinking over in her head how exactly she was going to tell her parents about her boyfriend.

By the time Lily had unpacked all her clothes and books, put them in the proper places, and done her first load of laundry, it was time for dinner.

Lily took a deep breath before heading downstairs. This was the meal where she would tell her parents about her and James.

Lily didn't talk about anything for the first 5 minutes of dinner. She let her family get a good ways into their meal, before beginning, casually, "So I was wondering if I could go over to someone's house for dinner tomorrow." She said lightly.

"Sure dear. Who's house?" Mrs. Evans asked, taking a bite of fruit.

Lily took a deep, shaky breath, and said, as calmly as she could, "My boyfriend's."

There was silence all around the table. Lily didn't look up, but she could practically feel her mother's open mouth and her sister's disbelieving expression. Mr. Evans dropped his fork.

"You have a boyfriend?" Mrs. Evans asked slowly.

Lily nodded. "Yeah, I do."

Mr. Evans cleared his throat. "And what's his name?" He asked. Mr. Evans appeared to be fighting the urge to clean his glasses, a common nervous tick of his.

"It's James Potter?" Lily said as more of a question than a statement.

Once again, silence surrounded the table.

"James Potter?" Mr. Evans asked, saying the name as if it were something foul-tasting, though that had less to do with the person and more the concept of his youngest daughter dating anyone.

"Lily dear, isn't that the boy that's been harassing you ever since you started that school?"

Lily shifted uncomfortably under her mother's gaze. "Uh, yeah, that's the one."

"Well… I can't say that I'm not a little bit shocked. I had no idea…" Mrs. Evans said, before shaking herself. "How long have you two been together?"

"A few months." Lily answered softly. This would be the worst part. The part where her parents were mad at her for hiding this from them for so long.

"A few months? Lily Marie, how come you never said anything?" Mrs. Evans asked, more put-out than angry.

Lily shrugged. "I guess I just wanted to tell you in person. I'm going over to his house tomorrow to meet his parents, and then I was hoping that the day after that, he could come here to meet all of you." Lily suggested tentatively.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans immediately softened. Now that they knew they were going to meet their daughter's secret boyfriend, they were no longer angry, just a little sad that Lily didn't share this with them.

Lily seemed to sense that. "I'm really sorry I didn't tell you. But, I figured it was the kind of thing you tell your family in person, and so I just kept putting it off and putting it off. I'm really sorry."

Mr. Evans patted her hand. "It's fine Lils. At least you told us, right?"

Lily nodded, relieved that it had gone so well. Petunia was oddly quiet throughout the exchange, but at least she didn't look mad about anything. Finally, her sister said something. "So… he's a… a… _you know_… like you, then?"

"Yeah, he is."

Petunia turned her nose up in disapproval.

"Something wrong with my boyfriend, Tuney?"

"Oh no, nothing at all, Lily." She said, but Lily knew she was lying. It wasn't like she was trying to hide it or anything.

"Come on Petunia, out with it."

"I just thought that maybe, after you got out of that freak school, you could put all this behind you. Meet a nice, _normal_ boy, and start a family, and forget all about the… _abnormal_ stuff."

Lily's fist clenched, the only sign that she was seething with rage. "Being a witch is part of who I _am_ Petunia. I'm not going to stop being who I am because of what _you_ think is right. And if I decide to keep dating James Potter after school, then that's my business, isn't it?"

Petunia huffed. "Excuse me." She said, standing up from the table abruptly. "I've suddenly lost my appetite."

Lily buried her head in her hands again as her sister walked away from her. Every break she came back and thought that maybe, just maybe, they might be able to fix things between them, but then Lily would say something, or pull her wand, and Petunia would flinch, and sneer, and walk away from her _again_. It was exhausting. Lily didn't know if she could fight for her sister anymore. She was just too tired.

Mr. Evans reached out a hand and put it over his daughter's. "Don't you worry Lils, she'll come around."

Lily nodded, but her stomach was in knots, because she knew that her sister would never come around. They would never be sisters again, at least not the way that sisters should be. But she couldn't do anything about it. She was tired of running after her sister, begging for her forgiveness, for her love. She would never get it. So now, it was time to focus on the family she did have: mainly her parents and James.

"I think I'm going to go to bed. It's… it's been a long day." Mr. and Mrs. Evans nodded sadly at their youngest daughter as she trudged up the stairs.

The looked at each other for a while, before Mr. Evans finally said, "When she got her letter, I was so excited. It was such a relief, because she was special. Don't you remember how happy she was? She finally had some place she could fit in. It was wonderful for her. I don't think we ever really paid enough attention to how Petunia took it all."

"I thought she would be happy to have such a special sister."

Mr. Evans shook his head. "She felt left out. Her sister was something incredible, and she could never be a part of that world. She knew it, even when she was thirteen. She knew she was losing her best friend that day."

Mrs. Evans sighed deeply. "Sometimes I wish magic was never a part of this family."

Mr. Evans shook his head vehemently. "You don't mean that. Look at how happy Lily is. She's having all these wonderful adventures, and all these incredible things are happening to her… I would never want to take that away from her."

"But don't you think it would be easier?"

He shrugged. "Easier doesn't always mean better."


	2. Chapter 2

"'James?' Lily said quietly.

'Yeah?' He whispered against her hair.

'I want you to meet my parents.' She felt James freeze against her, and thought that maybe she had made a mistake in asking him."

Introductions and Repercussions

Lily slept for much of the next day. It had been a long and tough trip, and she was exhausted. Plus, fighting with James and Petunia both in one day was bound to take a lot out of her.

When she did wake up, at around 12, she was relieved that her sister was nowhere to be found. Apparently she was off visiting her boyfriend, Vernon Dursley. Lily grimaced upon hearing his name. He sounded dreadful (and he was, but she wouldn't find that out until much later). She had heard Petunia talk about him often enough to know that she had no interest whatsoever in meeting the man. According to her mother, he looked like a walrus, except with a beard where the tusks would normally be.

Lily ate a late breakfast and then spent a good part of the early afternoon trying to decide what to do. She forgot how dreadfully boring the Muggle world could be. Seriously, it was 1977, she was 17 years old, and yet she couldn't think of anything to do. She could do magic, yes, but what use was her wand when she didn't need to do anything with it?

She would levitate things around her house, but she had tried that once before, and it hadn't ended well… he poor cat had never been the same.

Lily sighed deeply. She still had another (she checked her watch) four hours until she had to be at James' house. Actually, she couldn't even go a little early, because James had insisted upon apparating to her house just to get her. She would have protested, because she's seventeen years old and a fully capable witch, thank you very much, but she didn't want to get into another argument with her boyfriend.

Lily sighed and picked up her Transfiguration book. She could practically hear Hestia's voice in her ear. '_Lily Marie Evans!'_ It would say. '_Only _you_ could be reading your textbook over break! You are a disgrace to our friendship. Go out, get some sun, find some hot boy to snog (whether or not it's James is up to you).'_

Lily rolled her eyes. Even in her head, Hestia was just as ridiculous as usual. But Lily really did love her best friend. Maybe she could write Hestia… yes, that'd be a good use of her time…

But that would be desperate. One day into Easter Break, and already she needed her best friend to talk to about the magical world. Lily shook her head. Every break ended up this way. She would promise herself that she'd spend the whole time with her family, being 'magic-free', but she could never make it more than three days before she was sending Hestia a letter, or sneaking out her cauldron for some extra Potions practice.

The Ministry of Magic couldn't sense whether or not you were brewing potions underage, only if you were casting a spell. Lily found this little loophole the summer after her second year at Hogwarts.

Besides, she really didn't have anything to say to Hestia either way. Even if she did owl her, what was she going to write? _Hey Hestia, how's your break going? Mine's good. I already got into a fight with Petunia. My parents are happy. I'm going to James' tonight to meet his parents. All my love, Lily._ That seems like a rather poor letter to her.

Hestia always wrote to her about her crazy father who would experiment with magic by blowing things up in different ways. She would write about Quidditch games with her older brothers, and her Mum's paintings. Lily's family was incredibly dull next to such things.

Hestia always assured her that that wasn't the case. She said she loved hearing about different shows playing on the television, and her Dad's failed attempts at cooking, and her Mum's secretary work (Hestia found it unbelievable that Muggles had a whole job devoted to answering phones). But to Lily, these things were just _dull_. She supposed that all the magical stuff must eventually get boring for Hestia, but Lily wasn't sure how. How could anyone think the magical world was dull? Lily was constantly discovering something new about it every day.

She glanced at her watch. Well, that had wasted 20 minutes of her time. Only 3 hours and 40 minutes left until James was coming to get her.

Lily wasn't sure how she made it through the day. Every minute felt like an hour, and the hours went by _so_ slowly that Lily was sure her clocks were broken. '_Time must move slower here'_ she thought to herself.

But finally, _finally_, it was 40 minutes until James was set to arrive, and Lily could hurry upstairs and get ready. She figured that it wouldn't take her that long to get dressed. She was never one to spend hours trying to pick out the 'perfect' outfit. And even though she was meeting James' parents for the first time, and she wanted to look good, she wouldn't put any more time into her appearance than usual.

Hestia said she had the annoying quality of 'being able to wear anything'. Lily denied that this was true. She simply only kept clothes in her wardrobe that she knew she _did_ look good in. With her green eyes, pale skin, and red hair, it was very hard for her to find clothes that didn't make her look like a ghost.

Shopping with Lily could be a real nightmare. But get her home with her clothes, a wand, and 15 minutes, and she was ready to go anywhere.

When she was all dressed, she was happy with the way she looked. Her hair was down, and straight, and she had just a little bit of mascara on, to hide her red eyelashes. Her dress was dark purple, and tightly-fitted, but nowhere near obscene. She was wearing medium-height black heels, and she had a purse, which held a tube of lip gloss and her wand. She smiled at herself in the mirror. She looked _good._

Lily checked her watch again. She had five minutes, assuming James was on time. She felt he would be, for tonight.

She was extremely thankful that her parents weren't home. Lily didn't want them meeting James before tomorrow. They had left with Petunia for the Dursley's about an hour ago. Lily had promised them she'd be back by midnight, and they had left, a little disappointed that they wouldn't be meeting him tonight.

Lily looked herself over again in the mirror, making sure her hair was neat, and her shoes weren't crooked.

"Come on Lily." She muttered to herself. "You don't need to be worried. Why should you be worried? It's just your boyfriend's rich, pureblood, magical parents, both of whom are Aurors and could probably kill you without even lifting their wands. Yup, nothing to be worried about."

She heard three short raps on her front door. With one last deep breath, she scurried down the stairs and to the door.

She threw it open and saw James on her front porch, his hand halfway through his hair. When he caught sight of her, however, it froze. James' eyes bulged, and his mouth dropped open.

Lily smirked at him. "Really James? Must you always be messing up your hair? It's horrible enough as is."

James laughed. "I resent that! I have very good hair." He couldn't even say it with a straight face. James bent down and kissed her softly on the lips. "Hey, by the way."

"Hey back."

"You look beautiful, Lils."

"You don't look too bad yourself." She said, eyeing him up and down. He was wearing a red plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up, exposing his strong forearms. The material was pulled tight along his biceps, evidence of his years of Quidditch. He was wearing jeans, but it didn't make the outfit look casual. Paired with his shoes, James looked like a gentleman. Lily wasn't sure what to make of that.

"How long did it take you to get dressed?" She asked with a smirk, linking her fingers with his after locking her front door with a flick of her wand.

"A few minutes." He said evasively.

"How long really?"

James sighed. "Okay, so it took me like an hour." Lily cracked up. "Stop laughing! I was nervous. I kept changing my shirt, and then changing it back, and then changing my pants…" Lily kept laughing. "I'm serious Lily! I'd probably still be getting dressed if I didn't have to leave to get you."

"Okay, first of all, it only took me like, half an hour to get ready. And you know you didn't have to come and get me. I passed my Apparition test too."

"I know. But I _wanted_ to come get you. Plus, you know, I felt guilty about the train and everything."

"No, I'm the one who should feel guilty. It wasn't fair to you, what I did. And I'm sorry. I really, really am. I promise to always keep my parents informed about our romantic life."

"Err…" James ran his free hand through his hair, "maybe not _everything_ about our romantic life…"

"I'm messing with you, James."

He breathed a sigh of relief and grinned at her. "Okay, so hold onto my arm." Lily linked her arm through his. "You ready?"

"For Merlin's sake, Potter. If you don't apparate soon I'm going to do it myself."

James winked at her before turning on the spot, bringing them into a crushing darkness.

Lily was proud to say she didn't stumble when her feet hit solid ground again. That was something that had happened to her quite frequently, especially when she was wearing heels. Luckily for her, her reflexes (but more than likely it was James' strong sense of balance) kept her upright.

She still had to blink a few times to bring her vision back into focus.

Once the world stopped sliding around, Lily could see everything around her clearly. Her mouth dropped open.

They were standing in front of a _mansion_. Literally, the house was almost as big as Hogwarts. Okay, so that was a lie, but it definitely rivaled the size of Gringotts.

"James… you _live_ here?" She asked, awe-struck.

He ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Well… technically I only live in like, an eighth of it." Lily shot him a questioning look. He shrugged. "There are still rooms in there that I haven't ever been in. And I mean… it's really not a big deal. I mean, my parents love it, and they like… felt the need to spend their money on something… and it's a family home…"

"It's _amazing_ James."

He flushed a little, whether in embarrassment or pride, Lily couldn't say. "Just wait till you get inside. I swear it can make even the Minister of Magic himself feel inadequate."

Lily ran a hand through her own hair. "Gee thanks. I haven't even met your parents yet and already I'm petrified."

James shook his head quickly. "I'm sorry. There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just a big house, that's all. Really, my parents aren't anything like the rest of the purebloods. They're really nice people."

"You sure you're not just saying that?" Lily teased, tightening her hold on James' hand as they made their way up the path, past the grounds (yeah, that's right, the place had freaking _grounds_).

They paused in front of the huge oak front door. James kissed her softly on the cheek. "Don't let the decorations intimidate you. They've always been there. And like I said, it's a family house, and we couldn't pull some of the stuff down for risk of being disowned by the rest of the Potters… anyways, you'll love the house elves, they're sweet as can be."

Lily nodded, biting her bottom lip slightly.

James pushed the 12 foot wooden doors open with his free hand, leading Lily inside slowly.

She had to bite her lip harder to keep from gasping. The place was nothing short of extravagant. They entered the largest hall that Lily had ever seen, excluding Hogwarts.

The ceiling stretched up and up, and as she looked towards it, Lily saw a giant crystal chandelier dangling down. There was a window directly in front of it, and it must have been enchanted, because there was a soft light flooding in, hitting at such an angle that the whole hall was bathed in rainbow light, refracting from the different sized crystals.

There were house elves bustling about, paying no attention to the two teens. There were arrangements of flowers everywhere, large oil paintings on nearly every wall, and an ornate carpet in the middle of the marble floor. The walls were the same white marble, and there were pillars in four corners of the room, made of the same imperfect white marble as the rest of the room. Directly in front of the doors was a huge staircase, stretching up to all four floors. At least, Lily thought there were four floors. There could have been more. And she didn't even take a basement or attic into account.

Lily realized that she had been taking in the room for a good 2 minutes, her mouth wide open the whole time.

James' hand felt a little sweaty in hers, and his free hand was frozen in his hair. He wasn't looking around at his house, but at Lily, trying to judge her reaction.

When they made eye contact, he blushed hugely. "I'm sorry about this." He muttered.

"What are you talking about? It's amazing!"

His hand fell from his hair. "You like it?" he asked, a little skeptical.

"It's beautiful." Lily breathed, completely sincere.

James sighed in relief and immediately relaxed. A house elf scuttled over to them quickly, squeaking excitedly. "Master James, Master James! Who is this?" He asked in a high-pitched voice.

James smiled down at the little creature. "I've told you Keely, it's just James."

"My apologies, Master James." Keely said, bowing so low his nose brushed the ground.

James smiled ruefully at the elf, kneeling down next to him so they were almost eye to eye, though James was still a bit taller. "This is Lily, Keely. She's my girlfriend."

Keely squeaked and immediately bowed low to Lily, as well. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Lily. Keely is very happy to meet you. If you is needing anything, Miss, please tell Keely, and he will get it as fast as he can."

"Well thank you Keely, you're very kind." She said, wanting to reach out to shake his little hand, but figuring that the elf probably wouldn't appreciate it.

"Of course, Miss."

James stood up from the floor and patted Keely once on the head as a sign of affection. "Are my parents here?"

"Yes Master James, they is in the study."

"Thanks Keely. You're still my favorite." James shot the little elf a wink, who blushed furiously in pleasure, and scuttled off to do something else.

"My mother tried to free them all years ago," James muttered to Lily as they wound their way through the seemingly endless halls, "but they wouldn't have it. They insisted on staying around. It took a lot of convincing, but eventually they let her pay them a small amount every month. It's nowhere near what she _wants_ to be paying them… but it's the most we could do."

Lily leaned closer into James and smiled. "Your parents seem like wonderful people. And I really like Keely."

James smiled. "I do too. He's always been the closest to me. Actually, he practically raised me. That little guy was my best friend. Merlin, I remember being his size…"

Lily chuckled. "It's nice having so many people or… err… _elves_ around to play with. I never had anyone when I was little, except for Petunia… and she doesn't really count."

James chuckled, but a sad look came over his face. "But I didn't really have many people, or elves, for that matter. Most of the elves were afraid to become friends with me. Purebloods don't really have the best name around the elf world, you know? I had Keely, but… not many friends."

"I'm sorry James, I didn't know."

He shrugged it off, but Lily knew that deep down it was still painful for him to remember his childhood. "It was lonely. But after our first year at Hogwarts, I never had to worry about any of it, ever again. I had Sirius and Remus and Peter over for most of the summer, and when they weren't here, I was at one of their houses. We never went to Sirius' before, though."

"Speaking of Sirius, where is he? Isn't he living with you?"

"He is, but this break he decided he would go out to the country and 'see how the Muggles live'."

Lily cracked up. "You're kidding, right? Sirius Black, in the country, without _magic_?"

James laughed too. "I didn't believe him when he first told me, either. But yeah, he's there right now. I'm sure he'll be back within the week, though. You know Sirius and the outdoors."

Lily laughed some more. "Oh Sirius Black… what would we do without him?"

James shook his head. "I have no idea." His grip suddenly tightened on Lily's. "We're here."

Lily looked up and saw that they were almost in front of a doorway. There was no door there, just an empty space where the door should be. Inside, Lily could hear the crackling of a fire, as well as two adult voices talking in low tones.

Lily bit her lip and ran her hand through her hair.

"You'll be fine." James whispered in her ear. "If my parents are anywhere close to intelligent, which I know they are, they'll love you in a second. And if they love you half as much as I do… well then we're good to go."

James squeezed her hand quickly once, before striding into the room, Lily only slightly behind him.

"Mum, Dad?" he said, and the two adults in the room shot their heads up eagerly. "This is Lily Evans."

Lily fought the urge to fidget under their gazes. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Mr. Potter let out a loud, booming laugh, and stood up from his chair to shake her firmly by the hand. "Oh, the pleasure is all ours, let me tell you. You have no idea how often James has spoken of you. I feel like I already know you myself." Lily blushed slightly.

There was no doubting that this man was James' father. He was his spitting image, tall, muscular, with jet black hair that stuck up in odd places. There were a few obvious differences, though. His jaw was sharper and more pronounced than James', and his eyes were brown, rather that the light hazel that James had. He too wore glasses.

Mrs. Potter stood from her chair and strode over to Lily, a bright grin on her face. She was beautiful. Lily knew that she had to be in her upper forties, but looked much, much younger than her age would indicate.

Her hair was black, but softer, smoother, and lighter than her husband's and son's. Her face was soft, and her cheeks were rosy. Her lips were red, and she had laugh lines on the corner of her eyes and her lips. Her eyes were the exact colour and shape of her son's.

"It's lovely to meet you, Lily Evans." She said brightly, holding out her hand for Lily to shake. Lily took it and was surprised to find that it was rough and worn, which was probably from her intense job as an Auror.

"I'm Henry, and this is my wife, Elladora."

"You can call me Ella." Mrs. Potter interjected quickly.

"It's nice to meet you both. James has… well, I'd like to say he's told me a lot about you, but he _really_ hasn't."

Both adults chuckled. "Oh James, I like her." Henry said, nudging his son with his shoulder.

James blushed and mumbled something that sounded vaguely like, "So do I", but Lily wasn't sure.

Just then Keely came bustling into the room. "Dinner is served, Master Potters, Miss Evans."

"Thank you Keely, we'll be right there." Mrs. Potter said kindly.

"Well, this is perfect timing." Mr. Potter said, clapping his hands. "We'll go into the dining room, and then you really must tell us everything about yourself, Lily. From all James' years of moping about after you, I feel like I should get to know the _real_ you, and not just the Lily Evans James spoke of."

Lily blushed and readjusted her hand in her boyfriend's. "I hope he didn't say anything too bad about me."

"On the contrary, dear." Mrs. Potter said as they slowly made their way back through a few more winding hallways. "He couldn't shut up about you. Everything you did was 'perfect', every insult you flung at him was 'brilliant'." Now both James and Lily were blushing. "Between you and me," Mrs. Potter whispered conspiratorially, "I was beginning to think he had completely made you up."

Lily chuckled. "I wouldn't put it past him."

Mrs. Potter threw her head back and laughed loudly. "Oh yes, that would be just like James, wouldn't it?"

They entered the large dining hall. Lily had to blink at the size. It was gigantic. The ceilings were so high up, Lily had to crane her neck to see them, and the table in the middle looked like it could fit thirty.

"I really am sorry about the table, dear." Mr. Potter said, a little sadly. "We would get rid of it, but then what would we do with this room? James suggested turning it into a Quidditch pitch, but after what he almost did to the poor house elves the last time we let him play Quidditch in the house… we thought it was better as it is."

"Usually we just eat in the kitchen." Mrs. Potter continued. "But we thought it might be better to have dinner in here, for company's sake. We usually just take the middle most seats, and try to pretend that the rest of the table doesn't exist."

Lily nodded and, with James' prompting, slid into the seat next to his. Mr. and Mrs. Potter had to walk the long way around the table to get to their seats, and Lily found herself wanting to squirm in her seat at the awkward extension of time.

"Lily dear, may I just say that you look stunning tonight? Really and truly, you are a vision." Henry said sincerely as he pulled his wife's chair out for her.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter."

"Call me Henry dear, really. Mr. Potter was my father."

Lily smiled and nodded.

"Lily, James told me that both of your parents are Muggles, is that right?" Ella asked as she picked her spoon up and started eating the soup in front of her. Lily took this as a signal that she could start eating, as well.

"Yes. I was raised in a Muggle house."

"Fascinating." Mr. Potter mumbled. "Tell me, what do your parents do for a living?"

"Well," Lily said slowly, trying to figure out a way to say it without making her parents sound utterly dull to these incredible people, "my father is a psychologist, and my mother is a secretary."

"And what exactly do those jobs entail?" Mrs. Potter asked.

Lily looked around at the table briefly, trying to figure out if these people were messing with her or not. Judging by the curious looks on both of James' parents' faces, she doubted that they were making fun of her.

"A psychologist is something that Muggles have. He's sort of a… healer for your brain; I guess would be the best way to describe it. And my mother works at a big office, answering phones and taking notes and organizing meetings and such."

"Amazing." Mr. Potter breathed out, awed. Lily made eye contact briefly with James, who was sitting next to her and smiling into his soup, trying not to laugh. "And are they happy there?"

"I think so." Lily paused. She had never really thought about this. "My dad more so than my mum. But she never went to university, so it's hard for her to find any better job. And they pay her well, and give her benefits, so she doesn't complain."

"Muggles are so interesting." Henry said, chuckling. "Do you have any siblings?"

"One. A sister. But she's not very… sisterly."

"Ah yes, I think James mentioned that. It's terrible when you don't get along with your siblings. Believe me, I know." Mrs. Potter sighed, remorsefully.

Lily quirked her head to the side, silently asking her to elaborate.

"Well, as you can tell, my husband and I aren't the most… _traditional_… of purebloods. The very fact that you're in our house at all is a testament to that."

Lily shifted uncomfortably, and James reached over and linked their hands quickly. "Mum." He scolded.

Ella seemed to realize that she had said something wrong. "Oh no dear! No no no, I'm dreadfully sorry, I wasn't trying to be rude. No, it's just that my parents, and many other purebloods, would have discriminated against you based on your heritage. I was trying to say that we _don't_ do that. In fact, I think it's ridiculous that anybody _does._ From what James tells us, you're the smartest witch at Hogwarts."

"Well I'm hardly-"

"She's just being modest." James cut in. "She really is dreadfully clever."

Mrs. Potter grinned. "I have no doubt about that. I've always found Muggleborns particularly clever. But as I was saying, because of our views, we don't agree with much of our close family. I doubt many of the pureblood families out there would even admit to being related to us. It's a shame, really. I lost contact with quite a few of my brothers and sisters because of it.

"Not that I'd necessarily _want_ to be in contact with them, but I do miss some of my nephews and nieces. Like young Andromeda Black. Her sisters are dreadful, but that girl… I think she'll turn out alright."

"I hope so." James muttered softly. "She was always Sirius' favorite."

Mrs. Potter smiled a little sadly. "Sometimes I miss them. Sometimes I wish that we had a better relationship. But of course, I could never change them, make them see reason. They are who they are, and I've accepted that. We'll never get along; we're just too different."

Lily knew exactly what she meant. No matter how she badly she wanted to have a proper sister again, she wasn't going to change who _she_ was, and Petunia most definitely wasn't going to adapt. And Lily was coming to terms with that.

"So James said you were both Aurors. What's that like? I bet it's incredibly thrilling."

Mr. and Mrs. Potter exchanged a look that Lily couldn't quite read. "It's definitely an adventure." Mr. Potter said quietly. "And I love it. I love doing what I do, because I know that I'm helping people who need it. But these are dark times we're in. The Death Eaters are gaining in numbers and mobility, and unfortunately the Aurors can't catch them fast enough."

"But still," Lily said excitedly, "going on missions and seeing exotic places… isn't it wonderful?"

"It can be." Ella said. "But you miss a lot of things while you're away, Lily. It's hard to do things like have a family and be supportive of your children when you're not even sure if you're going to make it home again. Being an Auror can be wonderful… but you shouldn't take it lightly. It's a tough job to have."

Lily pondered that for a moment. She knew how lonely James had been as a boy. But still, there was nothing else she could think of doing outside of Hogwarts. She wanted to help people. She wanted to fight in this war. And being an Auror seemed to be the best way to do it.

As if he was reading her mind, Henry asked, "What are you thinking about doing after school, Lily?"

Lily paused for a second, before she answered truthfully. "To be honest, I'm not so sure. I was thinking about being an Auror, because I don't really have any generalized skills…"

James scoffed. "You're kidding." He then addressed his parents. "Lily is the best student of the year. She beats out everyone's scores by a long shot. The teachers can't get enough of her, especially old Sluggy." Lily blushed.

James' parents looked at her appraisingly. "So you have a knack for Potions, then?" Henry asked.

"She has a knack for everything. You name it and Lily's gotten an _'Outstanding'_ in it. Arithmancy, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration…"

Lily blushed and wanted to correct him, but there wasn't anything to correct. James was right. She _had_ gotten 'Outstanding's in all of her O.W.L's. Then again, so did Remus, and James wasn't bragging about him.

Ella smiled at Lily. "You must be very bright. Of course, James has been telling us about how bright you are for years."

James cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't talk about her _all_ the time, Mum…"

Ella and Henry both laughed. "Oh yes you do." His mother said fondly. She turned to Lily, and said, "Ever since his first year at Hogwarts, every letter home has been filled with tales of a mysterious Lily Evans, who wouldn't give him the time of day."

Lily chuckled. That sounded like James. Her letters home had all been filled with tales of the insufferable James Potter, and how he wouldn't leave her alone.

"James never did mention Lily, but what made you finally give in? From what Sirius tells us, he's been chasing after you for six years now."

"MUM! You talked to Sirius about this behind my back?"

"Not really behind your back, dear… but you know how Sirius loves to gossip."

James grumbled under his breath, something about "Castrate… give him fleas… dumb dog…" Lily bit her lip to stop from grinning.

"So tell us Lily. What made you accept our dear James?"

Lily fought a grin at anyone calling James 'dear', but managed to keep it under control. "It's actually kind of a funny story… we were in Charms class, and we were learning about Patronuses. When I finally got mine to appear, James got all excited, but he wouldn't tell me why." Lily hesitated. She didn't know if his parents knew about his being an illegal Animagus.

"So I showed her my Patronus." James cut in quickly, squeezing Lily's knee subtly under the table, kind of a warning for her not to say anything. She wasn't planning on it. "And, funny thing, they matched."

His father's eyebrows shot up. "They matched? You mean you had corresponding Patronus shapes?" James and Lily nodded. "Fascinating…" He muttered, sharing another look with his wife.

"Yea, and for some reason, Lily thought that was enough reason to give us a shot."

"And I never looked back." Lily added on. James grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles softly.

Mrs. Potter was beaming. "Well that is quite a wonderful story. If it's not too much to ask, may I… oh this sounds silly… may I see you Patronuses? It's very rare in the wizarding world for two people who aren't in a relationship to have matching Patronuses."

James shared a look with Lily. _'Do you mind?'_ His eyes asked. She shook her head subtly.

James pulled his want from his back pocket, and flicked it, with a firm, "Expecto Patronum."

His silver stag burst from the tip of the wand, cantering around the room. His parents watched it with soft smiles on their faces.

"Oh James," His mother breathed, "he's beautiful."

Lily drew her wand from her bag, closed her eyes, and cleared her throat. She drew on a memory of her and her friends down by the lake, her back against James' chest, as he kissed her neck softly and whispered in her ear about everything and nothing. Lily smiled just from the memory, and allowed that feeling to fill her up again. "Expecto Patronum!"

When she opened her eyes, it was to see her doe trotting over to James' stag, where they nuzzled necks, like two lovers reunited after a long time.

"Well…" Mr. Potter cleared his throat, watching the scene in front of him. "This really is something. I take it Professor Flitwick told you about the significance?"

James shrugged. "He mentioned it, said something about us being _'meant to be'_, or some rubbish like that."

Ella chortled. "Now don't brush it off too quickly, James. He's right, in a manner of speaking. Of course, I wouldn't have phrased it quite like that, but…" She shrugged. "The corresponding Patronus shapes have a definite tie into your characters. It means a similarity and cohesiveness between the both of you that is rather unparalleled in most relationships. It shows how you are alike and how you can work as a couple. Not necessarily a _romantic_ couple," she was quick to add, "but a couple of _people_, just in general."

James smiled. "Well it's a good thing she said yes then, isn't it?"

Everyone laughed. James linked his hand through Lily's, and didn't let go for the rest of the meal.

Lily couldn't believe how fast the rest of the evening went. She chatted and laughed and joked with James' parents as if she had known them all her life, rather than just a few hours. She couldn't believe how at-ease she was with these people. James had kind of talked them up for nothing. There wasn't anything intimidating about them.

They weren't crazy with their wizardry. In fact, they asked her a lot of questions about life in the Muggle world. They seemed especially curious about electricity, and telly. She couldn't explain it nearly well enough, so in the end, she just ended up inviting them over to her house (date to be determined) to see for themselves. They had accepted readily and excitedly, but told her that she'd have to check it with her parents first.

Lily was sure her parents would be fine with it. They loved the magical world, and were always trying to learn more about it. Two fully-grown adult wizards in their house… Lily was sure they would be ecstatic.

Lily didn't have a watch on, but when James glanced down at his he jumped.

"What is it?" Lily muttered to him, still focusing most of her attention on his parents.

"It's eleven thirty, Lils."

Lily started. "What? How did it get so late?"

Mr. Potter glanced down at his own watch. "Goodness but time just got away from us, didn't it?" He laughed a little. "As much as I hate to draw this wonderful evening to a close, I'm sure your parents are expecting you home soon, aren't they Lily honey?"

Lily nodded sheepishly. "They're probably already wondering where I am."

"Well then you must hurry home." Mr. Potter said, standing up from the table and gesturing with his hand out into the front hall. All of the Potters walked with her to the door.

"I'll apparate you home." James offered. "Or, what do the Muggles call it?"

Lily laughed lightly. "They walk each other home."

James grinned and nodded once. "Then I'll do that."

Lily turned to Mr. and Mrs. Potter. "It really was great to meet you. I had a wonderful time."

They beamed. Ella engulfed Lily in a tight hug. "So did we dear. You are marvelous company. I don't know why you're wasting your time on poor James, here."

James ran a hand through his hair and smirked at his mother. "I heard that."

"I meant for you to." She shot back. James laughed.

Henry hugged her too. "You have to come back soon Lily. It was great having you here, and I'm sure we're all going to miss you."

"I'd love to come back as soon as possible."

"Tell your parents to go easy on James tomorrow, will you?" Mr. Potter teased. "He's kind of rough around the edges when you first meet him, but let your parents warm up to him, and they'll see that he's really a fine boy, and not the prat that he comes off as on first glance."

"OY!" James yelled indignantly.

Lily laughed. "You see, I think he's the opposite. Wonderful when you first meet him, and then you scratch the surface, and he's nothing _but_ a prat." Lily nudged him with her elbow to show that she was kidding.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter threw their heads back and roared with laughter. After one last quick goodbye, Lily and James were exiting Potter Manor (James had mentioned at dinner that that was its official title).

James threw his arm around Lily and pulled her close, warming her a bit against the early spring chill. "James, your parents are amazing. Your house is beautiful, they're wonderful… why did you make me nervous?"

He shrugged. "I was trying _not_ to make you nervous. But I'm glad you liked them. They absolutely _loved_ you. I knew we didn't have anything to worry about."

Lily smiled as they neared the gate. "I'm worried my house will be dreadful compared to yours. I mean, yours is huge, and extravagant, and elegant, and mine… well you saw my house today." Lily blushed a little. She had never been embarrassed about her family, or the amount of money they had, but after seeing James' house… hers just felt insufficient.

James snorted. "Nonsense. Your house looked beautiful. And I told you, I only use about an eighth of that house. I would much rather have a small or medium-sized house that I use all of than a huge one that I barely know my way around." James shook his head. "I can't wait to meet your family, Lils."

"I'm going to warn you in advance about my father." She said as they exited the grounds. James kept walking, presumably to allow Lily to keep talking, rather than cut her off and apparate back to her house.

"He's not going to like you, at first. In fact, he might be a little hostile, or at the very least, passive-aggressive."

"Great." James muttered.

"It has absolutely nothing to do with you." Lily said quickly. "And everything to do with the fact that you're my first 'real' boyfriend. And he's probably going to resent you. But it's fine. Just be yourself, talk, and don't let him intimidate you. It's kind of like this test he has. If you make yourself seem weak, he's just going to hate you more."

"He hates me?" James exclaimed, surprised.

"No, not _you_." Lily paused for a moment. "Just the _idea_ of you. You know, a boy."

James sighed. "I can't win, can I?"

Lily kissed his cheek. "You'll have won by the end of the night, but you're going in very much the underdog. Don't worry; it was the same the first time he met Hestia. Though, I think that might have been because he thought we were in a lesbian relationship…"

James snorted. "Him and Sirius both."

Lily whacked his arm, but smiled none the less. "Am I cheering you up?"

He grinned and kissed her softly. "You always cheer me up."

Lily smiled up at him. "That is very sweet of you. Now take me home, please. My mother's bound to have called the constables by now."

James chuckled, wrapped his arms more securely around her body, and spun off into the overwhelming darkness.

Lily wasn't so lucky this time around. She did stumble, though not a significant amount, because James was once again holding her up.

Lily looked up. They were right in front of her house. She kissed James swiftly and firmly on the lips. "You should go." She said quietly when they had pulled apart. "They're bound to have heard the crack, and so have the neighbors. And I really don't want them meeting you before tomorrow, because that's just not fair."

James chuckled. "Alright. I love you." He kissed her again.

"Love you too. Now get out of here."

James saluted before backing up a few steps and disappearing with a loud CRACK!

And not a moment too soon. The front door of Lily's house was thrown open, and Mrs. Evans could be seen silhouetted against the light from inside.

"Lily?" She called. "Is that you? Is James with you?"

Lily walked up the front path and to her front door. "It's me, Mum. No, James isn't here. He already left."

Mrs. Evans huffed. "I was hoping to meet him. And also, please be careful about where you appear and disappear, Lily. I don't think you're supposed to let the neighbors see you."

"We are careful, Mum."

Mrs. Evans nodded. "Okay, if you're sure." She looked Lily up and down as her daughter climbed the stairs to her bedroom. "You look nice. Did you have a good time? How was his family?"

Lily smiled. "They were great. His parents are incredible. And he's looking forward to meeting you all tomorrow."

Mrs. Evans smiled. "Good. Goodnight, Lily."

"Night Mum." Lily entered her room quickly and changed into her pajamas.

As she lay in bed, she thought about the night with James' family and grinned. It really couldn't have gone any better. She fell asleep that night happy, and her dreams were full of images of her and James, riding on broomsticks, chasing down a fat Vernon Dursley-esqu walrus with a mustache.


	3. Chapter 3

"'James?' Lily said quietly.

'Yeah?' He whispered against her hair.

'I want you to meet my parents.' She felt James freeze against her, and thought that maybe she had made a mistake in asking him."

**A/N: Just thought you might be interested to know that Cliodna (pronounced KLEE-nah) is an actual famous witch from the Harry Potter books. She's featured on a chocolate frog card. She's the Irish Goddess of beauty and the otherworld in many Celtic legends. Just some fun facts for you all.**

Introductions and Repercussions

"Lily! Wake up! LILY!"

Lily blinked her eyes slowly, squinting at the light flooding in through her window. She rolled over in her bed, stretching and rubbing her eyes as she came face-to-face with a scowling Petunia.

"What is it?" She mumbled, running her fingers through her hair. She glanced at the clock hanging on her wall and groaned. It was 7:30. This was the _last_ thing she needed over break; to be woken up by Petunia of all people, at the same time she wakes up for classes.

"Petunia, it's bloody early." Lily grumbled, rolling back over and burying her face in her pillow. Whatever her sister was scowling about, it could certainly wait until 9.

"Lily Marie, you wake up this instant!" Lily moaned. She hated when her sister screeched at her. "There's some foul bird pecking at my window, and it woke me up! I swear to God Lily, if one of your _freaky_ friends is sending you post…"

Lily was up and sprinting for Petunia's room before she even finished her sentence. No one usually sent her mail this early on in break, unless something bad had happened.

She burst into Petunia's room to see Hestia's black owl, its head cocked to the side, staring in at her from outside. It hooted mournfully, and Lily threw the window open.

"NOT IN MY ROOM!" Petunia yelled from behind her as the bird swooped inside. It squawked and flapped its wings furiously, trying to get away from Petunia. It knocked over a lamp, which shattered upon hitting the ground, making Petunia shriek again.

"GET THAT BEAST OUT LILY! GET IT OUT!"

"Shhh Cliodna, calm down girl." Lily put her hand out towards the owl, attempting to relax it. It worked. Cliodna slowed her flapping.

Lily held her arm out, and the owl landed on it, hooting softly and nipping at Lily's finger affectionately.

Petunia was still yelling. "LILY GET IT OUT OF HERE! HOW DARE YOU LET THAT THING INTO MY ROOM?"

"Oh be quiet Petunia! You're not helping." Lily exclaimed in frustration.

Petunia bristled. "How dare you? And you're buying me a new lamp!"

Lily rolled her eyes and made to walk out of the room. Before she left, however, she pulled out her wand (which she had grabbed from underneath her pillow when she ran from her room) and pointed it behind her. "Reparo." She muttered.

Petunia shrieked when the lamp that was on her floor suddenly flew back together and landed itself back on her desk.

"NO DOING… _STUFF_… AROUND ME! PUT IT BACK, PUT IT BACK!"

Lily rolled her eyes and walked back into her room, kicking the door shut behind her and locking it with a flick of her wand. Oh, how she loved magic.

She held her arm out and Cliodna climbed onto her window sill, ruffling her feathers a bit.

"I'm sorry about that, girl." Lily said sincerely. "Here-" She dug through her trunk a bit before pulling out some owl treats. "Hestia gave these to me, so they should be your favourite." Lily pulled a few out and held them in her hand for the bird to eat. "Though I don't know why she got them for me," Lily mumbled under her breath, "she knows I don't have an owl."

As Cliodna was busy with her treats, Lily pulled the letter off of her leg and untied it hurriedly. It read:

_Lily,_

_First off, I know you're going to freak out about this letter, but don't worry. I'm totally fine, as are the rest of my family. That probably won't last long, though, because I'm absolutely going to _kill_ my brother if he doesn't stop making kissy faces at me every time someone says the word 'serious'. Merlin Lily, why can't I be at your house?_

_I'm not inviting myself over. If I was planning on doing that, I'd already be at your house._

_So how are things? I hope your break is going better than mine. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually miss Sirius. Can you believe it? Don't tell him I said that, though. He doesn't need a bigger head than he already has._

_So how are things with James? Are you both still lovey-dovey? I hope you made up, because if he mucked things up between the two of you, I swore that I would shave his head. And I have a feeling he'd look even stupider without his hair._

_I'm guessing you made up, because I haven't heard anything otherwise. Of course, it is just the first day of break. I can't believe I broke and wrote you first…_

_I'm getting off track. Has he met your parents yet? Have you met his? Has Petunia brought that horrid man over yet? Please, give me something, I need my Lily fix. I swear, I'm dying here!_

_Well, that's all the news from my end (which is absolutely no news at all). Please write me back._

_Lots of love,_

_Hestia_

_P.S. I told Cliodna to take this to Petunia's room. Pretty evil, right? Tell me if she pissed herself, or if Clio at least broke her nose. I was kind of hoping for that…_

Lily laughed as she read through the level. Good old Hestia… she always knew how to cheer her up. Of course, Lily was going to murder her for sending a letter at 7:30 in the morning… but she guessed it was a sweet enough thought.

Lily pulled out some parchment and a quill, and wrote:

_Hestia bloody Jones,_

_I'm pretty mad at you, right now. Who do you think you are, sending me and owl at 7:30? Do you have to wake me up at an ungodly hour, even when we're on break?_

_But the Petunia thing totally made up for it, and I've decided to forgive you. Aren't I a marvelous friend?_

_Yes, Clio broke her lamp. I fixed it though, which only made her angrier. So it was a win-win for me. How was your morning? I tell you, nothing is worse than waking up to Petunia's ugly face towering over you._

_Yes, I made up with James. He sent me a very sweet apology letter that I'd let you read, if I weren't afraid you would completely take the mickey out of him. And don't pout; you know that's exactly what you'd do to him._

_I'm sorry you're missing Sirius. Of course, I don't understand how you_ can_ be. It's impossible to miss that dog breath; I mean, you can smell it across the country._

_Sorry, was that a little mean? Oh well, you deserve it for dating Sirius Black, no matter how happy he makes you. (You know I love that you're together, right? Okay good, just making sure.)_

_James hasn't met my parents yet, but he's meeting them tonight, and I'm kind of terrified…_

_Actually, speaking of that, I met _his_ parents yesterday. Can you believe it? I met the Aurors Potter. It was… bizarre. I mean, they're totally not what I was expecting. They were, like, _fun_. I tell you, it was disconcerting._

_But they were wonderful people. Incredibly nice, very funny and they love James a lot. It's crazy, but I really enjoyed myself._

_And Merlin, did you know James was rich? I mean, I knew, because he's pureblood, but MERLIN! I mean, I think his house elves had house elves. He had _grounds_. I think he has his own Quidditch pitch! I just… wasn't quite expecting it._

_Anyway, James is meeting my family tonight, and I'm a little bit terrified. My dad's probably going to murder him. I hope Petunia won't be here, because nothing can scare men away quite like my sister._

_I miss you, Hest. I hate that we don't live near each other. And I don't have an owl, either. So we don't communicate quite as much as I'd like to. But I'm glad you wrote me, even if it is so early that I'm not quite sure what I wrote on this parchment._

_Punch your brother for me!_

_Love,_

_Lily_

Lily signed the paper with a flourish and blew on the ink to dry it a little faster. When she was confident that her writing wouldn't smudge, she rolled the parchment up, and tied it to Cliodna's leg.

"Go home Clio. I'll see you soon, and I promise I'll have more treats for you." She said, petting the owl's head for a second before opening up her window and letting her fly off.

Lily sighed and looked around her room. Goodness but she just wanted to go back to sleep.

Of course she doubted that that would be a possibility now. She could still hear Petunia fuming in her bedroom, and the letter to Hestia had left her thinking about James. Oh Merlin, her father was going to kill him…

But he didn't have any reason to. I mean, they hadn't shagged or anything… would her father ask that? Lily's face flushed red just imagining it. Why was her life so complicated? Meeting James' parents hadn't felt _anything_ like this.

She heard a sharp knocking at her door. Lily sighed. It was probably Petunia.

She pointed her wand at the door and flicked it. It unlocked and swung open and, sure enough, Petunia was on the other side, her fist raised, and a surprised look on her face upon seeing that Lily was still sitting at her desk, all the way across the room.

She wiped the expression off of her face quickly, however, and stormed in. "You have to tell your freak friends to stop sending you owls! Why can't they use the regular post like the rest of us?"

"Owls are faster, Petunia, we've had this discussion."

"But someone's going to see! Aren't you thinking about me at all, Lily?"

Lily bit her tongue to keep from saying, 'Not really, no.' "I'm sorry Petunia. I'll tell Hestia to stop sending owls to your bedroom window."

"Good." Petunia nodded firmly.

"Are you going to be here tonight?" Lily asked quickly, before her sister could leave.

Petunia paused for a moment. "No, I'm meeting Vernon. He's taking me out to the cinema. Why?"

"My boyfriend's coming over to meet Mum and Dad. I was just wondering."

Petunia lifted her nose into the air and sniffed. "I don't want to be meeting any of the freaky losers you managed to trick into dating you. I don't want his ugly to wipe off on me." Petunia turned on her heel and strode haughtily from the room.

Lily sighed. James wasn't a loser, and he wasn't ugly. She wanted to tell her sister, but she doubted Petunia would listen to her, much less believe her.

Lily growled. Whatever. It's not like it mattered. She didn't _want_ James to meet her sister, anyways. At least, she didn't think so… maybe it would be fun to see Petunia's face when she saw James…

Lily shook her head. No. It was a bad idea for James to meet Petunia. He'd probably be polite to her, anyways, and she would be dreadful to him. And James didn't deserve that.

Lily decided she wasn't going to get back to sleep. She was up, and freaking out, and she might as well stay awake, right? Being asleep wasn't going to do anything for her. Her mum always said you can sleep when you're dead. Lily was under the impression that you were dead when you were dead, and you wouldn't be getting any sleep at all.

Half an hour later she was showered, with her hair dried (magically, of course) completely dressed, and with her teeth brushed. Lily trotted down the stairs in search of food.

It was two hours later, and Lily was really cursing the fact that her parents only had one car. Her dad had taken it to work with him this morning, leaving Lily stuck at home. She tried to watch T.V., but the only things on were the news and some new show called 'Family Feud'. It looked dumb, so Lily didn't even try to watch it.

She grumbled in annoyance and flipped the telly off. What was she going to do?

Maybe she could try and talk to Petunia… but no, that was bound to be hazardous to her health. Being in the Muggle world, at this moment in time, was the worst thing Lily had ever had to do.

Then next time Lily was aware of where she was it was a good four hours later. She blinked at the clock. What had just happened?

She looked around her living room and realized that she must have fallen asleep on the couch. It was the only explanation, really, unless someone had possessed her, or she had really been so bored that her brain had just stopped working. How did it get to be 2 o'clock?

The front door of her house opened and shut with a BANG, and Lily forgot all about how she may or may not have fallen unconscious spontaneously.

She drew her wand and tiptoed down the front hall slowly, holding her breath. She rounded the corner with her wand drawn, only to be met head-on by her mother.

Mrs. Evans jumped backwards, her hand clutching her heart. "God Lily, watch where you point that, please!"

"Sorry Mum, sorry." She said, stowing her wand in her pocket again. "I'm just edgy. You know that we're in the middle of a war."

Her mother looked at her, confused. "No we're not. The Vietnam War ended two years ago. And even so, that was just America."

Lily rolled her eyes. "The wizards are in the middle of a war, Mum."

"Oh right, I forgot. Silly me. Why are you running around with your wand out, then?"

Lily sighed. It was no use trying to explain it to her mother. "No reason Mum, I guess I was just jumpy. What are you doing home so early?"

"James is coming over tonight, dear." Her mother said, patting her on the cheek as she made her way into the kitchen. "I came home to prepare everything for him."

"You really don't need to do that. I mean, it's just James." She said, but was secretly grateful. If her mum was home and cooking, it meant that she would have something to do instead of sit on the couch for the next four hours and watching the ceiling.

"Nonsense Lily. He's a guest, and your first boyfriend. Of course we need to make it special."

Lily bit her tongue to keep from interjecting and saying that no, actually, he wasn't her first boyfriend. She didn't mention that she'd had about three before him, because then that would make her mum angry, and that wasn't fun for anyone. So Lily didn't say anything, and instead spent the rest of the afternoon helping her mum cook and clean and set the table.

It was 6:00 in no time, and Lily had to run upstairs to get changed. She wasn't sure what to wear. What do you put on when your boyfriend is coming over to your house for the first time to meet your parents?

She decided to wear a skirt and tank top. It would seem casual in the right setting, but it also gave the appearance of dressing up. That way she would match whatever James wore. Unless he wore a suit… oh Merlin, she hoped he wouldn't do that. How embarrassing would _that_ be?

Lily was slipping her earrings in when she heard a knocking on the door. She hurried out of her room to get there before her mother did.

She pulled open the door and slipped outside to greet James without her mother peering over her shoulder.

She met his hazel eyes and smiled up at him. James bent down and kissed her lightly.

"You look great, Lils."

She eyed him up and down. He was wearing jeans again, and a tight black tee-shirt. She nodded in approval at his outfit choice. "You look good too. Thank Merlin you didn't wear a suit."

James furrowed his brow. "Why would I wear a suit?"

"I don't know. You do weird things like that. Now come on, I'm sure my mum's jumping out of her skin in there. Do you have your wand?" She asked, pausing with her hand on the door.

"Of course, I always have my wand."

"Well don't pull it in my house. It's complicated, but… my sister's still there, and if she even catches a glimpse of any kind of wand, she'll scream loud enough for the neighbors to call the police. Believe me, that's happened before."

James grimaced. "How horrid."

Lily chuckled. "Come on." She reached back and grasped his hand, pulling him inside after her. "Mum!" She called. "James is here!"

Mrs. Evans scurried out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron and grinning from ear to ear. "Oh James, it's a pleasure to meet you." She said, kissing him once on each cheek. James seemed confused by the gesture, but didn't say anything. Lily was grateful. "My name is Joyce, and my husband's name is Charlie."

"It's lovely to meet you, Mrs. Evans."

Joyce scoffed and flapped her hand. "It's Joyce honey, and don't you forget it."

"Sorry." He said, running a hand through his hair. Lily gripped his fingers a little bit tighter.

"PETUNIA!" Mrs. Evans called up the stairs. "Come down here and meet your sister's boyfriend!" She then turned back to James. "Petunia won't be joining us for dinner. She's off to meet her own boyfriend, Vernon Dursley." She made a face when she said his name, as if she tasted something sour.

Lily heard her sister's door open and shut, and Petunia's grumbling all the way to the top of the stairs.

"I don't get why I have to meet another…" Petunia froze on the stairs when she saw James.

He grinned his best thousand-watt smile at her and held out his hand. "James Potter. It's good to meet you. Lily's told me all about you."

Petunia narrowed her eyes at him and shook his hand slowly, as if she was afraid to touch him. "And who are you, James Potter?"

James quirked an eyebrow. "I'm Lily's boyfriend."

Petunia glanced to her sister, then back to James, and down to their interlocked hands. She laughed. "Well, from the bottom of my heart, James, I'm sorry that you have to deal with _that_." she gestured at Lily, who bristled infinitesimally. "God only knows what she's done to make you date her. Well, I'm off." She added before James could open his mouth to defend Lily. "Have a _lovely_ dinner." She sneered before grabbing her coat and slipping out the door.

Joyce sighed and rubbed her eyes. Lily looked up at James apologetically.

"I'm sorry about her, James." Mrs. Evans said. "Petunia is… uh… _spirited_."

James shrugged. "It's really fine. " Mrs. Evans smiled and turned around to head back into the kitchen. "Boy, you weren't kidding." He muttered to Lily, who just nodded next to him.

"She's awful. At least we don't have to spend the whole night with her."

James smiled and nodded. "Your mum seems nice. She looks a lot like you."

"Everyone tells us that."

"When's your dad going to be home?"

Lily lifted James' wrist and checked the time. "Any second now, actually. He usually gets home around six thirty. And in advance, I'm sorry for anything he threatens you with."

James chuckled. "It's no worry, really."

Lily linked their fingers together and led him into the kitchen, where her mother was busying herself over the stove.

"So James, I'd love to hear all about you, but I'm afraid we should probably wait until my husband gets home, shouldn't we?"

James shrugged, deferring the answer to Lily, who quickly jumped in. "That's probably a good idea. We don't want to tell the same stories twice, do we?"

Mrs. Evans shook her head. "No, no you're right. Why don't you take James on a tour of the house, and I'll send your father up when he gets home. How does that sound?"

"Brilliant." Lily said, grinning, before trotting off down the hall and up the stairs.

"Wait, Lily! You're not giving me a proper tour!" James teased.

Lily rolled her eye. "Kitchen, living room, dining room, back hallway where we keep our shoes, bathroom." She listed, briefly pointing at each spot as she said its name. She pulled James up the stairs faster. "Petunia's room, my parents' room, another bathroom, and _this_ is my room."

James grinned as he was yanked into the small space, the door shutting firmly behind him. "Won't your mum get mad that we're in your room with the door closed?"

"Oh no." Lily said simply. "She's convinced that if we were to try and do anything, she'd be able to hear us."

James ran a hand through his hair, puzzled. "She doesn't know about silencing charms?"

Lily glared at him. "No, and if you value your life, you will _never_ tell her."

James chuckled and held his hands up in defeat. "Hey, who am I to alert your parents to anything that we might be doing in your bedroom?"

Lily made a face. "Must you speak like that?"

"Like what?" James asked, moving over and throwing himself down on Lily's bed.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I don't know. You act like if we were to ever shag in here, Merlin forbid, you'd be fine with my parents knowing."

James' eyes widened. "You know I was just kidding, right? I mean, of course I don't want them to know; I wouldn't be able to make it out of here alive. I was just taking the mickey."

Lily smiled at her babbling boyfriend. "It's fine James. It really is too easy to make fun of me sometimes."

James laughed. "You got that right."

Lily paused when she heard the front door of the house open and close. Lily flashed James a bright smile, but he seemed to have gone quite a few shades paler than he usually was.

"Come along Potter." She said, grabbing his elbow and yanking him up.

"Can't we just stay up here?" He whined.

"Come on James, where's that Gryffindor courage? You were fine a few seconds ago."

"Yeah, but then I heard him walk in." James mumbled under his breath.

Lily giggled. "You're fine. And also, if I were you, I wouldn't want my girlfriend's father to meet me the first time after he barged into her bedroom to make sure we weren't shagging."

James' face couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to go pale or blush, so it settled on an odd, unpleasant mix of the two.

James dragged his feet slightly on the way down the stairs.

"So where is he?" He heard a gruff voice say from the front hall.

James gulped. He knew that, in theory, he was completely fine with meeting Lily's parents; excited, even. But once faced with the actual challenge of walking up to the man and shaking his hand… James wasn't sure he could do it. Of course that was exaggerating a little bit. This was nothing compared to some of the things he had faced at Hogwarts.

Mr. Evans wasn't a dark wizard (he wasn't even a wizard at all), he wasn't like Remus on a full moon, or Padfoot when he didn't get enough food, and he wasn't _anything_ like McGonagall's Transfiguration exams, so he should be able to tackle this challenge with fair ease (all of these are things that quite terrify James on a daily/yearly basis).

But for some reason, seeing the back of Mr. Evans' light brown hair was worse than all of those things combined.

Lily seemed perfectly calm beside him, and James was insanely jealous. She _would_ totally freak out over meeting his parents and then be the epitome of calm in front of hers. Lily cleared her throat, and James' heart leapt. His free hand was itching to jump up to his hair, but he remembered what Lily had said about weakness. That was his greatest tell, and he wouldn't do it in front of Mr. Evans unless it was strictly necessary.

Charlie Evans turned around, and the first thing James noticed was his eyes. They were the exact same shape and colour as Lily's. James had to blink twice to get over the shock of seeing his girlfriend's eyes on another person's face. They were also holding an expression that James had never seen in Lily's eyes.

James got the distinct feeling that he was being scrutinized under a microscope, and sized up. Mr. Evans was trying to read him. James thought back to Lily's descriptions of her father's job. '_Psychologist… healer for your brain…'_ James fought the urge to gulp. Maybe this man could read his mind.

Just then Mr. Evans stuck out his hand. "Charlie Evans. It's nice to meet you."

James gripped his hand and allowed Lily's father to attempt to crush his fingers (it hurt a lot more than he would ever admit). James put his best grin on his face, and shook back firmly. "James Potter, Mr. Evans. Really, the pleasure's all mine."

Charlie nodded once and released James' hand. It was silent for a few seconds before Joyce cleared her throat from behind her husband.

"Oh, right." He cleared his throat. "There's no need to call me Mr. Evans, son. I'm just Charlie to you."

James nodded slowly, but somehow got the feeling that Mr. Evans was extending that courtesy begrudgingly.

Mrs. Evans clapped her hands excitedly. "Come now all, let's go into the lounge and James can tell us all about himself." She led the way, her husband following close behind. He only shot one look back at James and Lily, and upon seeing that they were following directly behind him, he turned forwards and didn't look again.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans took adjacent seats in two empty armchairs on one side of the room, leaving the entire couch for James and Lily to sit on. James felt like this was another test.

He allowed Lily to sit down and get comfortable first, before sliding up next to her, making sure to leave enough room that they weren't lying on top of each other, but there was no doubt that they were a couple. He waited, trying to judge her parents' reactions, but they were impassive.

Mrs. Evans brushed her hands over her dress, folded them in her lap, and positively beamed at James.

"So tell me all about you, James."

"Uh… what do you want to know?"

"Anything! How about we start with your parents, what do they do?"

James looked at Lily, trying to see if he should lie about his parents' jobs. Lily gave him a nod that said, _'Continue'_.

"They're actually Aurors."

"An Auror." Joyce said slowly, weighing the word on her tongue. "What is that?"

"It's a… uh… dark wizard catcher."

"Oh right! I always forget that you're in the middle of a war."

"Who's in the middle of a war?" Mr. Evans asked, surprised.

"The wizards are, dear. Lily was telling me about it. Apparently there's this dreadful wizard who's using his powers to do 'dark magic', and trying to take over the rest of the wizard and Muggle worlds."

"Good Lord." Mr. Evans breathed. "Is it still safe for you at that school?"

"Of course." James was quick to cut in. "Hogwarts is the safest place in the world, especially with Dumbledore as Headmaster."

"Oh yes, Dumbledore. I remember him. I liked him. Kind of an odd man, though." Mrs. Evans said thoughtfully.

James grinned. "That he is."

Mrs. Evans looked at the clock and practically jumped. "Goodness, I have to get the roast out of the oven! Hurry along you three, while it's still hot!" she called as she made her way swiftly into the kitchen. No one bothered dawdling.

The dining room was small. The whole house was fairly small, actually. But James found that he loved the atmosphere. Every room was slightly messy, every couch was worn from being sat on, the leather on the arm chairs was fraying, the wood on the table was scratched and scarred from so many utensils striking it that it looked more like a giant cutting board than a table. But none of this made the house look cheap.

This was a well-used house. Every room was inhabited, there were pictures on the wall (Muggle ones, that didn't move, or yell, or _anything_), and there was more food piled on this small table than James had ever seen outside of Hogwarts, including the feasts at his own house.

"Wow. This looks amazing, Joyce."

Mrs. Evans smiled. "I'm glad you think so. Now fill up your plate before this one," she gestured to Lily, "eats it all."

James chuckled and followed her instructions. It was a few minutes later before anyone got back on a regular conversation topic. During the first part of their meal, the conversation had kind of lagged to easier, happy, light subjects that everyone could joke and laugh about. James thought he was really making a good impression.

Mr. Evans wiped at his mouth before setting his fork down. "So James," he said, clasping his hands together and resting his elbows on the table, "what are you planning to do after Hogwarts?"

James paused for a second. He had fully expected this part of the evening, but the timing was rather unexpected.

"Dad…" Lily started to warn, but he just held up his hands.

"I'm just curious in what the boy's interested in, Lily."

"Well," James cleared his throat, "I was thinking about following in my parents' footsteps and becoming an Auror."

"That's a well-paid job then, is it?"

"Not particularly, no, especially not in the first three years. If you're lucky enough to be accepted into the Academy, there's a three year training program that you have to go through."

"That sure is a lot of work. But tell me, how do you plan on providing for a family if you're not being paid?"

Lily was taking a drink of water at that moment and choked. She coughed and her eyes began to water. James rubbed circles on her back. "Dad, that's really not…" She started to croak out, but James cut her off.

"My financial situation is completely fine, Mr. Evans." He said calmly. He wasn't angry at this man for questioning his ability to provide for his daughter. Hell, he'd probably have done the exact same thing.

Mr. Evans quirked an eyebrow. "Family inheritance then?"

"Yes sir. I'm… well in the wizarding world, I'm what's known as a pureblood, which is a wizard with only wizard ancestors. The pureblood families are rather a small community nowadays, and the beneficiaries of those estates, of which I am the only in my family, are quite well to do."

Mr. Evans nodded along. "You're quite a lucky man, then."

James looked over at Lily and linked their hands under the table. "That I am."

Mr. Evans grinned at the response, and seemed to loosen up considerably. Not once throughout the rest of the evening did he question James, his situation, his future, or his motives. Lily was thrilled.

When dinner was done with, her mother asked her to stay in the kitchen to help clean dishes. She squeezed James' hand reassuringly as he made his way out of the room with her father.

"He's probably going to threaten him, isn't he?" Lily asked her mother as they watched the two men leave.

Joyce chuckled. "Maybe. I'm sure James can take it, though. Oh Lily, he's just wonderful. Completely wonderful. I am delighted with him."

Lily breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin. I really was nervous about him meeting you."

"What's with all this 'Thank Merlin' stuff, anyways?" Her mother asked.

"Well… how do I explain this? It's kind of like the wizard version of 'Thank God'. But we don't thank God; we thank the most powerful wizard ever: Merlin."

"So he's like your God then?"

Lily chuckled. "No Mum, we have the same God."

"Oh." It was quiet for another few seconds. "He really is a keeper Lils. I have a feeling he'll be around for a long time."

Lily smiled off into the distance as she grabbed another plate to shove under the sink. "So do I."

Meanwhile, James was being lead into the living room. Mr. Evans took an armchair, and gestured for James to occupy the opposite one. James sat down nervously.

Mr. Evans cleared his throat and gave James a serious (and slightly intimidating) look. "I'm sure you know why you're out here James. You seem like a clever boy. I'm correct in my assumption?"

"Yes sir."

Mr. Evans nodded. "You know if someone had told me three years ago that my daughter was going to be dating James Potter when she was seventeen, I would have laughed, and told them to go stuff themselves. And yet, here we are."

"Here we are." James agreed.

"I'm going to level with you James." Charlie said, leaning forwards in his seat. "I honestly like you. You're smart, funny, and you make my daughter deliriously happy. There's nothing more I can ask of you."

James couldn't help but smile, just a little bit, at the praise.

Charlie smiled too, but in a much more devilish way. "Don't get cocky. There's still a chance for you to ruin this. I like you James, really I do, but I _love_ my daughter. But touch one hair on her body that she doesn't want you to, or hurt her, or break her heart, and I will _end_ you." He growled out the last bit. James gulped.

"I know you're a wizard, and that's fine and dandy, as far as I'm concerned, but do you know how a gun works?"

"Er… no sir, I never took Muggle Studies."

Mr. Evans smirked. "Ask Lily, and then you'll understand the gravity of this situation."

James shook his head. "Oh no sir, I think I understand completely."

"Then we agree."

"Sir, if I ever hurt Lily, or touch her when she doesn't want me to, or if I break her heart, you're welcome to attack me as much as you want. But you'll have to settle for sloppy seconds, because I'd beat myself to a pulp if I ever let that incredible girl in there get away."

Mr. Evans eyed James up for a few seconds before allowing a smile to slip onto his features. He chuckled. "Good man, Potter."

It was then that Lily walked in. "I hope he didn't hurt you." She said, as more of a warning to her father than anything else.

James shook his head. "No, no we just talked."

"Uh oh, I know what _that _means."

James chuckled. "No, it was good, really. I appreciate it Mr. Evans." Charlie just nodded at the boy.

James checked his watch and sighed. "I have to get back to my house. My parents set up wards every night, and they activate at ten thirty, with or without me inside. I really don't want to sleep on the sidewalk for another night.

James got up from the chair and shook Mr. Evans' hand firmly. "It was nice to meet you sir. You have a beautiful home."

"It was good to meet you too James."

James and Lily took their leave and went into the kitchen to find Mrs. Evans. She was humming under her breath, watching the stars through the window.

"Mum?" Lily said tentatively. "James needs to leave now."

Mrs. Evans whipped around, pouting. "Oh James! I'm so sorry you have to cut the evening off so early."

"So am I." James said, and he sounded completely sincere. "I promise I'll be back soon. Dinner was wonderful, and your house is amazing."

"You're sweet." Mrs. Evans leaned forwards and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll expect you back here again before break is done, got that? I'm holding you to your promise."

James chuckled. "I promise. You'll be sick of me by the time we have to go back to school. Goodbye, Joyce."

"Bye honey!" She called as the two teens made their way towards the front door. They slipped outside, and Lily's hand was in James' before the door was even closed.

"So how was it?" She asked nervously. "Was he completely terrible? I'm so sorry if he threatened to kill you, he's kind of horrible like that, but he'd never actually do it…"

James silenced her with a kiss. They stood there for a few more seconds, kissing in the brisk spring air, a smile on both of their faces. When they pulled apart, James said, "Lily, it's _really_ fine. I had a great time. And don't you feel better now that your family knows about me?"

Lily rolled her eyes, but had to agree. It was like a huge weight being lifted off of her chest, knowing that she wasn't hiding anything from her family anymore.

"You handled my dad's questions really well. I was actually kind of surprised."

James chuckled. "Don't be. When I was little, my dad made me go through mock-interrogations, both where I was the persecuting agent, and the prisoner. Now, talk about intimidating…"

Lily shot him a look. "I don't know whether to be saddened or impressed."

"Impressed. You met my father yesterday, and you know how cool he is."

"That's right… cooler than cool."

James laughed. "Really though, I had a great time."

"So you weren't scared?"

"Scared? What's there to be scared of?"

Lily shrugged and kissed him softly. "Now go on home of you'll be stuck sleeping outside."

"Damn, you're right. Okay, I'm gone. Oh, one more thing, Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"What's a gun?"

Lily burst out laughing. James gave her a weird look. "What? What's so funny?"

Through her laughter, Lily managed to say, "Go home James, I'll explain tomorrow." Though she wasn't sure how much of that he heard/understood. At any rate, a few seconds later he was kissing her goodbye and disappearing with a CRACK into thin air.

As she lay in bed that night, a smile graced Lily's features. Her family knew about James. Her family _approved_ of James.

It was odd thinking that only yesterday she was meeting his parents. It felt like weeks ago. But she felt so comfortable with them… almost like she had known them all her life. That was bizarre, in and of itself.

It was also kind of marvelous, though. She was accepted into James' family so quickly and readily that she was sure she would become great friends with them. She couldn't get the thought out of her head that if these people were her family, she wouldn't mind at all.

And that's how Lily fell asleep that night. Dreaming of James and their seemingly limitless future together.

**END.**


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